Usually this is a quite time of the year for Iowa athletics. This past week certainly was not quite at all. This week on the podcast we dive deep into the decision in the Jane Meyer court case and what it means for the Iowa athletic department and the future of Gary Barta. Then we go in-depth on the comments from Brian Ferentz last week about Iowa State, Minnesota, and Nebraska. Plus we talk NFL Draft, Big Ten hoops in early December, and we also update football and basketball recruiting.
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In the legal sense of the Jane Meyer case, the lesson apparently is that Barta did not document his case against her. If that was typical of Barta’s management style, what is the likelihood that he won’t have documentation in his defense in the Tracey Griesbaum case?
You state in this podcast that the lesson is that you have to document your actions. But there is an additional lesson. The Meyer case gives the appearance that in relying only on the testimony of some coaches, and having no documentary evidence, that Barta was operating a $100 million + enterprise like a mom & pop business. That he was piloting the ship by the seat of his pants. That might fly in a small, cash-strapped Div III program, but not in a DI, Power 5 program. That could be as damaging as the appearance that Iowa discriminates against women in general, and against gay women in particular.
Barta might be a good guy, just as you state. And we have no evidence that he isn’t. But the world sees only that he lost all 5 counts in a 5 count lawsuit (unanimously), the heart of which is gender and sexual preference discrimination. And that his management of the department was loosey-goosey.
There is a slim chance that he could survive one or the other of those perceptions of his administrations, but I doubt he can survive the combination.